Plants perennial. Ligule membranous. Leaf blades tightly involute. Inflorescence a single, very slender, one-sided spike, the axis flattened on the back. Spikelets bisexual, laterally compressed, inset edgewise into cavities arranged alternately in 2 rows along the concave side of the rachis, sessile, loosely to closely overlapping. Articulation above the glume(s). Glumes persistent, much reduced, adnate to rachis and (if both are present) to one another, without nerves, awnless. Lemma as long as the spikelet, 3-nerved; awn terminal, straight. Palea slightly shorter than the lemma. Callus ringed by minute hairs. Lodicules absent. Stamens 3. Stigma 1.
Also naturalised in Tas. Native to Europe and western Asia.
An isolated monotypic genus. Its relationships to other genera are unclear, possibly closest to Stipeae (Linder 2009).
